How many interfamily marriages do you have in your genealogy database? I currently have 79 couples. Just an interesting fun fact, right? Not so fast. Interfamily marriage is defined as marriage between people with common ancestors, aka cousin marriage, and this is how pedigree collapse occurs. Pedigree Collapse What is pedigree collapse, you ask. If […]

I’ve heard family stories about an ancestor who fought on both sides during the Civil War, but I didn’t really believe it. Two brothers fighting on opposite sides? Yeah, okay. But one man fighting for both sides over the course of the war? Seemed a little far-fetched. And yet, I think that’s exactly what my great great grandfather James Benjamin Houdeshell did.

For some reason, I’ve been thinking about my great grandmother Nora (Houdeshell) Hoover a lot recently. I never had a chance to meet her, but from the few stories I’ve heard, I think I would have loved her. So, I thought I’d start my 52 Ancestors series writing about her.

Fold3.com is providing free access to their Confederate records this month. My confederate ancestry is verrrry limited, but I thought I’d check it out. I found the enlistment papers for my 3x great grandfather James Benjamin Houdeshell.

Happy birthday, Lovina (Force) Houdeshell! “Lovey” was born 28 Jan 1872 in Pine Glen, Burnside Township, Centre County, Pennsylvania to Jefferson and Susan (Mulhollan) Force. She married George W. Houdeshell 20 Jun 1890. She died 28 Oct 1964 in Pine Glen and was buried with her husband in Advent Cemetery. She was my 2x great […]

Today’s Fearless Females entry is about the marriages of my great grandparents: Elmer and Lillian (Snyder) Greulich, Edwin and Mary (Waage) Wieder, Will and Isabella (Smith) Hocker, and Clyde and Nora (Houdeshell) Hoover.